During the 2015 U.S.-Mexico Summit on Aug. 7, America Makes held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open its first satellite facility at the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation on the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) campus.

From left to right: America Makes president and executive director Ralph Resnick, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) were in attendance to officially open the satellite center.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) and UTEP President Diana Natalicio officially opened the center, along with America Makes president and executive director Ralph Resnick. PMT’s CEO Charles A. Sholtis attended the ribbon cutting, and noted the importance of the Keck Center to manufacturers in our region.

“We look forward to growing our partnership with UTEP and the Keck Center, and continuing to develop more inventive 3-D printing practices that may increase our manufacturing productivity to customers,”Sholtis said.

The America Makes Satellite Center will be a public-private partnership working to “innovate and accelerate AM and 3DP to increase our nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness”, according to the center’s recent statement.

America Makes is part of the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), launched in 2012 by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. It is also the first Institute within the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). “As the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM) and 3-D printing, America Makes is the nation’s leading and collaborative partner in AM and 3DP technology research, discovery, creation and innovation,” according to the statement.

The partnership was awarded to El Paso’s Keck Center because of its distinguished honor of being the largest and most advanced 3-D innovation center in the world right now. The center began in 2001 as part of grant by the W.M. Keck Foundation, and today the 13,000-square-foot facility has more than 50 additive manufacturing machines and over 50 involved faculty, staff, students and researchers.